Improvement in zitherns



C. KUNKEL.

Zithern.

No. 222,139. Patented Dec. 2, 1879.

vATTEST UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE,

CHARLES KUNKEL, OF ST. LOUIS7 MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN ZITHERNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 222,139, dated December:2, 1879; application filed January 29, 1879.

To all whom it may concer/n.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES KUNKEL, of the city of St. Louis and Stateof Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvement-s inZitherns, thus constituting' the seventeen-stringed Kunkels AmericanZithern 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description ofthe invention, which will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the aocompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to improve the Zitheru, a musicalinstrument somewhat silnilar to the guitar, which I accomplish, iirst,by the form which I give to the frame of the instrument; second, bygiving such a form to the bridge or upper end of the instrument as torealize from the string arrangement the fullest possible advantages froman instrument of so limited compass as the zitheru. I therefore arch thesounding-box so as to present a sufficient resistance to the strain ofthe strings ofthe instrument. I also facilitate the aequirem ent ofpractice on the instrument by attaching to the sounding-board thediatonic scale combined with frets, upon which a wedge-shaped block canbe placed so as to affect the strings by full tones to insure correcttuning.

The tuning bridge-piece is shaped so as to afford to the strings ofthefirst octave a greater length and consequent volume than can be reachedthrough any other form of bridgepiece.

The frame of the sounding-box H is coinposed of two ends and two sides,to wit: the bridge-piece B and the counter-piece B', and two pieceswhich form sides. The said bridgepiece and its counter-piece aregrooved, lipped,

and rear-beveled. These four pieces of wood, when properly joined, andthe top and back pieces inserted into the said grooves and glued theretoand to the sides, form a sonorons box.

To give an arch form to the said soundingbox the side pieces are ofcurved form and give in the direction of the string-strain the formshown in Figure 2, the props d aidin g in the maintenance of said form.

rlhe strings, seventeen in number, are attached to the rear slopes ofthe said bridge and counter-bridge pieces B B by pegs and thetuning-pins, and are caused to rest on the usual pillow-wires, and whichhave a decided improvement in tone effect when they are placed on thelips h, which to that end are extended forward upon the sounding-board.

The arrangement of the diatonic scale upon the'said souiuling-board, inconnection with the frets shown and the tuning wed ge-shaped block usedtherewith, renders the operation of tuning-adjustment of the stringsmore nearly a mechanical operation than any hitherto-applied method; andto obtain range for the tuning of the strings from the third string Atothe ninth string Gr, forming the frst octave, I place the frets on theleft hand of the sounding-board, and move the tuningwedge from fret tofret toward the right hand, which will be found to be in reverse to theoperation attending the application of the same wedge-block in tuninganother not greatly dissimilar instrument of my construction, whichforms the subject of a contemporaneous application herewith.

In the accompanying drawings. inwhich similar letters indicatecorresponding parts, Fig. l is a face or plan view, and Fig. 2 across-section from X to X on the said plan.

rEhe sounding-board A will be seen to extend into the grooves E, whichare formed in the inner faces of the bridge-piece B and counter-piece Bfor its reception and support. rIhe said pieces have rear-slopingbevels, which, with the depth of the said grooves E below their tops,gage the depth and form of the pillowed bridges D D', in which areinserted the string-pegs c and the tuniilg-pins a for holding andstraining the wires F.

The sound-hole .O is for the common purpose of affording vent to theinternal sounds of the sound-box. rIhe left-hand position is shown ofthe frets l) and the wedge-shaped tuning-block IVI.

h is an inward projection ot' the bridge and counter-bridge pieces,which forms lips, over which the said wire pillows D D are laid, andwhich serve by their extension beyond the rigid inner walls of the endpieces to greatly enhance the tone of the instrument,

but this I do not in this application claim, as it is, with theoverlapping' lip h, the subject of a contemporaneous application. Theprops dform both a support to the soundingboard and an aid in preservingthe curvature of the said sounding-box.

The diatonic scale I is attached as an aid toward the precise learningand tuning of the instrument and the music adapted to its compass.

To perform rightly the operation of tuning my instrument, tighten G, thesecond string, so as to sound G; then take the said tuningwedge andplace it between the rst and second strings, I) and Gr, at the top, withthe broad side against the irst string and the sharp edge resting on thefirst line under the second string, G,whichwill then, when struck, givethe sound ofA, the third string one tone higher, to which the said thirdstring A is to be tuned in unison; then move the wedge to the next lineand the second string G will give the sound of B, to which tune thefourth string, said B, in unison likewise; then move the wedge to thethird line and tune the fifth string, and so on until the first eightstrings have been tuned, which completes the first octave. It is nowvery easy to proceed with the other strings, as it is simply tuning theremaining in octaves-thus, the tenth to the third, the eleventh to thefourth, &c.

Having described my invention, what I claim is A zithcrn having thehigh-arched bridgepiece B and the curved sound-box ISI with the frets band diatonie scale I, substantially as described, and for the purposeset forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own invention I at'ix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES KUNICEL. XVitnesses:

PAUL WITTENBERG, W. THoiisoN.

